6 have turned into 17. What to do???

[jbrookebarrow]

I'm new to all of this. As in, I've been considering "a few" chickens for some years and only recently decided to bite the bullet and buy some chicks. I started with six - the minimum from TSC. I was happy with the idea of six. Well, sadly, one passed the next morning, so i became happy with the idea of Five. Five is a good starting point. Five is manageable for me.

Well, I have a pretty awesome pops. He's funny and has a good heart, so naturally he felt some sense of responsibility when the one passed away while in his care. However, instead of helping to bury the little cheep, he decided to replace it with EIGHT more chicks!?

Okay, so now I'm up to 13 chicks. That's a good number I suppose. Not too many, probably won't have more than 4 or 5 roosters to manage. No biggie! I can do this! I'm feeling good!!

Then I get a picture text from him showing 4 little yellow chickies in a box with the caption, "Four more.

" NOOO!! I'm not made to handle 17 chickens and the pecking order and the eggs and roosters and

. I don't know what to do and I need encouragement and to hear other's "first time" stories. Can someone with absolutely no chicken rearing experience go from zero to 17 without going insane??

 

[GiddyMoon]

I'm going from none to 25...welcome

Starrrrt reading!

I have already decided that after a few weeks we will probably sell off a few..that gives us enough time to see who we like the most.

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Ummmm........start building? And make the coop much bigger than you think you'll need because their are always new chicks/breeds/etc that will someway find their way to you. It's just Chicken Math!!!

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

Geesh! What were you thinking! Don't you know you can't get 17 chicks! Thats an odd number you have to raise them in even numbers! Go get three more!

 

[kagedgoddess]

I was gonna say start building , but someone beat me to it! Dont worry. You ll be fine. I started with 6, a few monthes later hatched some shipped eggs, next spring i ordered 25, put 6 eggs in the incubator, then dh ordered 10 more amd we put 5 more eggs in the bator. This year, i put 56 in the bator SO FAR, ordered near 60, purchased 18. Lol we ve also gotten guineas, turkeys, ducks, and peafowl. Its an addiction lol

Chickens are like pringles. ...
You ll be fine, just make sure you have enuf space!

You'll probably end up with way more once you see the variety they come in!

 

[MyPetsMakeMeBreakfast]

Quote:
Why an even number? Sorry if its a stupid Question, but im new to all this.......

 

[goldeneggtees]

I'd say that was a joke

Quote:
Why an even number? Sorry if its a stupid Question, but im new to all this.......

 

[crazygoatlady915]

Hehe! SOOOO sorry. I wish you good luck, cuz thats some extreme chicken math!

 

[KFaye]

Don't feel bad. I only wanted 2. Well then I went to the feed store and bought 10. Oops. But they're bantams they count as 1/2 of a standard right? Then one died went back got 2. Then "accidentally" bought 6 at tsc. But hey all that I purchased so far were straight runs. And from what I hear you are supposed to expect some kind of losses. Well.... 4 Roos so far, losses none. Then someone just had to put out an ad for std pullets. Well. I needed standards with those bantams right? Ya know, to make sure we have enough eggs

So now re-homed 4 Roos. So from 2 to 21 down to 16.

 

[jbrookebarrow]

Quote:
My head's swimming! I lost count. I live on about 15 acres (parents' property) and my house has an ooold smoke house that I thought might make a good chicken coop. The room I've fixed up is about 10 x 15 with shelves for the eventual nesting boxes, a sandy clay floor, and some dowels in one corner for roosting. There's also electricity to it with a light and an overhead outlet. Does this sound like a good, safe setup? Should I add anything particular? The walls are block, door is wood (patched to close up any accessibility by varmints), and ceiling is open rafters, though pretty tall. Should I close the ceiling? If they have lower roosts, will they even bother going up that high?

I love this forum. I read constantly and have learned so much already.